This past Friday, as snowflakes twirled outside, I found myself in the warm, cozy cheese room of my dear friend Julie’s micro dairy, Danz Ahn Dairy, in Orwell, Vermont. Julie fits the true definition of a turophile—that’s someone who loves cheese and knows a great deal about it! Julie and I met at the Shelburne Farmers Market a couple of summers ago, our booths side by side, and quickly became fast friends over our shared love of goats, cheese, and all things farm-life. While I’ve dabbled in cheese making before—crafting small batches of goat cheese in my own kitchen for…

I just love the personal, authentic connections I’ve made while turning my long term hobby—raising farm animals and creating products—into my second career.  My business seems to be growing in the most wonderful way…one really nice person at a time. One of those people is Suzanne. She’s a school nurse, who raises goats and sheep herself, and met me in October while attending my talk “How to Start a Fiber Farm” at the Vermont Sheep & Wool Festival.  We met again when she came to our farm for a Barn Visit on a very chilly Christmas Eve. We ended up…

I love raising animals on our small farm. But when you raise a mix of farm animals, and keep them all until old age, then you’ve got some issues to work out. How to house them, how to feed them, how to entertain them, and most of all how to help with old-age. Many small farms don’t choose to deal with geriatric animals. Birthing and caring for newborn goats, sheep, llamas, alpacas, chickens, or rabbits is fun, and it’s easy to find lots of information to help. So is caring for healthy prime-of-life animals. But geriatric animals tend to be…

This time of year, I love finding asters growing in the most unlikely places around our farm. Did you know they’re the official flower of September…the birth month I share with my husband and little grandson? Asters have a long, rich history and symbolize love, faith, and wisdom. Originally native to parts of Europe and Asia, asters can be found growing, in a variety of colors, all over the world. They thrive in lots of different growing conditions—even ones that other flowers find intolerable. It’s their ability to grow so easily that has them often referred as weed-like plants.  But…